Russian tennis player Medvedev thanks US Open crowd for rooting against him

TASS, September 2. Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev has expressed his gratitude to the spectators at the US Open for openly rooting against him during his matches, he told Eurosport.

Medvedev, No. 5 seed, defeated German Dominik Koepfer in the fourth round on Monday and advanced to Grand Slam quarterfinals for the first time in his career. However, the crowd was hostile towards him after his third round match against Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, when the Russian got booed for snatching his towel from a ball person and then was booed even more for making an obscene gestures directed at the crowd. Medvedev won the match, but the hostile atmosphere carried on to his fourth round encounter with the German player. Having defeated Koepfer, the Russian reacted to the jeering by celebrating the win with a peculiar dance.

"I was painful in my abductor before the match. I thought I'm not going to play. I was painful in my shoulder. I took as much painkillers as I could. And you guys, being against me, you gave me so much energy to win. Thank you. Guys, continue to give me this energy. You are the best," 23-year-old Medvedev addressed the crowd during his on-court interview and was met with more booes.

The Russian rising star will attempt to go even deeper at the US Open and is now set to face off with Swiss Stan Wawrinka, who earlier progressed to the quarterfinals when defending champion Serb Novak Djokovic was forced to retire due to injury.

The US Open has been held since 1881, it is the fourth and the final Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season. This year’s edition offers $57 million in prize money and is scheduled to complete on September 8.